Category: Math

We have started to have fun with math on Mondays. The fun can range from reading a book or playing a game, as long as it is a fun way to play with math in a non-traditional way. Monday morning we poured our sweet tea and gathered at the couch to read “Blockhead, the Life of Fibonacci” by Joseph D’Agnese.

The book is about the Italian Mathematician that discovered a mathematical pattern often found in nature. I picked this book as a good lead in to go for a nature walk and to introduce Roman Numerals. Throughout the story there are opportunities to answer math questions.

All reading stopped when we reached the rabbit riddle. We worked together, made a chart on the white board and solved for the number of rabbit’s at the end of the year. We struggled for a while to see the pattern.

The next day we finished the book. On the very last page there is a list of things to find throughout the pages of the book.

Finally, we took the Fibonacci Spiral and went on a rabbit trail. We used our manipulatives to recreate the Fibonacci Spiral. It was all manipulatives on deck as we had to combine colors once we got to the last section. The Fibonacci Spiral (Golden Ratio also works well in a search engine) was so pretty we decided to take the rest of the week to recreate it by using a compass to mark the corners and a ruler-thank you Google!

We had lots of big, juicy conversations about different things in the book that I hadn’t anticipated. I don’t expect all Math Mondays to extend in to the week but am open to following the rabbit trails. Do you have something similar to Math Mondays in your homeschool?